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According to leader George Williams, England were given a harsh "reality check" as the Kangaroos clinched the prestigious series.

Australia's 14-4 triumph at the Merseyside venue on the weekend gave them a commanding series edge, making next week's Headingley encounter a meaningless fixture.

The England team had entered the series harbouring hopes of inflicting Australia to their first Ashes series defeat since the 1970s.

Over the last 24 months, they had achieved a dominant victory over Tonga and a 2-0 triumph over Samoa. But as the historic rivalry resumed after a 22-year absence, England were unable to take the next step against the world champions.

"We take full responsibility. We've had enough preparations to execute properly on the field, and I don't think we've achieved that," the captain commented.

"Credit to Australia. They were good defensively. But we've got a lot to work on. It seems not as good as we expected we were going into this series.

"This serves as a good wake-up call for us, and [there is] loads to enhance."

The Kangaroos 'Turn Up and Are Clinical'

After being soundly beaten in an sloppy showing at Wembley, Wane side's were much improved on Saturday back in the rugby league heartlands of northern England.

In an inspiring first half, England forced mistakes from the Kangaroos and had all the field position and possession, but importantly did not make it count on the scoreboard.

Tellingly, England have now scored just a single touchdown over 160 minutes, with St Helens hooker the forward scoring late on in the loss in London.

On the other hand, Australia have accumulated half a dozen across the series - and when blunders began to creep into the England's play just after the interval, it was a case of when, not if, they were going to be severely punished.

Initially Cameron Munster crossed, and then so too did Hudson Young. From being tied at 4-4, England were 10 points adrift.

"Proud for the bulk of the game. I thought for 70 minutes we were good," said Wane.

"The lapse for 10 minutes after the break damaged us greatly. The first try was avoidable and should never happen in a top-level game.

"We're deeply disappointed. Extremely pleased the squad had a fight but so disappointed with that after half-time, which proved costly dearly."

While the upcoming global tournament in the Southern Hemisphere is just under next year, England's short-term goal will be on trying to restore some pride, preventing a clean sweep and eliminating the issues that irritated Wane.

"I wanted to see more thrown at Australia. My aim was us to maintain momentum in the game - we didn't do that last week," added the veteran coach.

"We did this week. The issue is a lack of precision in our offense where we could have applied under increased strain. We need to defend both [tries] better.

"Credit to the Kangaroos - that is not a criticism to them. They arrive and are ruthless when they get a chance, and we weren't, but defensively we can and should do improve.

"They will be focused to win all three Tests and we need to be obsessed to make it 2-1. I've told that to the players. It has to be our obsession. It will be a challenging week but the side that wants it the greatest will emerge victorious next week."

Intensity Needs to Increase in Super League

The English side have played a similar number of international fixtures to Australia since the last World Cup in recent years.

Yet the coach thinks that the strength of the Australian league - and level of the State of Origin matches between New South Wales and QLD - offer a more effective preparation for performing at the highest level of the global stage than what is available in the northern hemisphere.

The England coach noted that the hectic domestic league fixture schedule allowed little opportunity for him to train his squad during the season, which will only raise additional concerns around how the national team can bridge the gap to Australia before travelling to the Southern Hemisphere in 2026.

"They participate in a large number of Test matches in their league," Wane remarked.

"England have 10-15 a year. It's crucial highly competitive games to improve the competition and increase our chances of winning these sorts of games.

"It was impossible to even practice with the squad. We never trained together in the campaign and I had the complete support of all clubs in Super League.

"I have also been in the position of the club managers that must to win games. The league is that tight. It's unfortunate but that's not the reason we lost today."